PRAYING IN A PANDEMIC How do we respond to COVID-19 from a perspective of awakening? by Dr. David Thomas
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e’ve all been hit hard by unprecedented safety measures, a flood of unnerving news, and the interruption of fundamental human connections. How are we to discern our response in prayer? Obviously this is a moment for the Church to adapt, to pivot creatively in our use of technology. It is a juncture summoning our A-game as leaders, responding with humility and wisdom and sound theology. We find ourselves unexpectedly at a point of strengthening community remotely, caring even more intentionally for the vulnerable and immuno-suppressed, and loving our neighbors. We’re giving bigger tips in the drive-through, sending encouragement notes to healthcare workers, and praying for government decision-makers. But it is also a moment for us as intercessors to gently, firmly allow the reality and gravity of our circumstances to register in the deep places of our souls. COVID-19 has appeared on the scene as a great equalizer. The famous and the commoner, all ages and nationalities are now seeing clearly what we have shared in common all along: our
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mortality. The truth of our vulnerability. How profoundly humbling it is that a simple microscopic organism is essentially bringing our entire planet to a halt. Across the New Room community, we’ve often said that maybe the best word we know for describing our need for God in our day is “desperate,” a claim which suddenly seems more relevant than before. We’ve acknowledged that, yes, desperation can lead to mistakes and excess. We don’t want to be about fear-mongering right now; Christians hold out the one true hope and comfort people need most. But we are also honest, compassionately inviting all those who will to confront the baffled urgency of our moment, and to let that weight bend our knees in prayer. We choose to let COVID-19 burn off the fog of the myth of continuity—that ruse we’ve become accustomed to in the West, having been lulled into satisfaction by years of today being much like yesterday, tomorrow expected to be much like today. Debunking these deceptions of self-sufficiency—that high competency has not prevented
